Oct 7- 2020
On the 6th of June 2018, H.E Madam Sam Horner Sam welcomed Ghanaian students in the Netherlands for a Meet and Greet at the Embassy of the Republic of Ghana. This event was the first official welcome that the Embassy had extended to Ghanaian students in the Netherlands. The event was an opportunity for Her Excellency, the Ambassador, to share her professional life experiences and to hear the concerns of the Ghanaian student body in the Netherlands.
Present at the Meet and Greet event were Staff of the Embassy including Madam Doris Brese (Deputy Ambassador and Head of Missions), Mr. George De Souza (Head of Consulate Affairs) and Madam Ernestina Nyarko (1st Secretary to the Ambassador). As well students from Wageningen University, Erasmus University, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Leiden University among others.
Some of the topics discussed at the event pertained to scholarship schemes such as Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) for Ghanaian students to study in Netherlands, career development support, searching for employment opportunities, research funding in Ghana for returning researchers among other topics.
In addition, Her Excellency hinted at job initiatives like Nation Builders Corp and Planting for Food and Jobs programmes being put in place by the Government of Ghana. The Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) programme is a government initiative to address graduate unemployment to solve social problems. The focus of the initiative is to solve public service delivery in health, education, agriculture, technology, governance and drive revenue mobilization and collection.
Moreover, Her Excellency urged the students to particularly the Ghanaian-Dutch diaspora students to consider entrepreneurship as an option to contribute towards Ghana’s development. Programmes like the One District One Factory are initiatives that students can engage in by setting up factories and small scale businesses in their local communities. Students can take initiatives in private sector development especially in the areas of ICT, water and waste management and agro business and other strategic sectors of the Economy.
During the Meet N Greet, Lady Gifty Kwayissi, the CEO/Founder of Global return recruitment was given the platform to give a short presentation on her company and to advice the students about the importance of networking and personal development in their search for employment or entrepreneurial opportunities.
The Ambassador together with the other staff of the Embassy ended by reiterating that the Embassy’s doors are always open to support Ghanaian and Ghanaian-Dutch students with any queries or challenges with regards to their wellbeing and development.